Rabbit Hunting in New Zealand

I shoot along some long fencelines here in Souther Australia. Same thing - it is easier to get mroe shots at longer ranges - obviously it is probably the localised and close bang of the rifle that scares them most. My longest bunny shot was 450m lasered with a rem700 vs in .223 with Remmington Accutip 50gr - giving some holdover the first shot went over the head and even with a noticable dust puff a few feet away the bunny just hopped around a little and the second shot knocked it over cleanly.
The story is not that unnusual